Secrets and Lies: Literature and the Self

This course will examine how literary texts contain layers of concealment, deception and revelation. We will examine how the act of storytelling constructs the storyteller, whether an identifiable person as narrator or a shadowy presence behind the text. We will examine what makes narrators and narratives reliable or unreliable, how they may seek to deceive the reader or themselves, and how they may deliberately or unwittingly reveal themselves in ways that skillful readers can discern. This course will survey a range of literary forms and genres, examining how narratives and narrators are constructed, and how both close reading and contextual background can reveal unexpected complexities in texts. Through taking this course you will develop skills in careful reading and persuasive writing and in using scholarly research resources, as well as participating in an intellectual community through attentive listening, thoughtful response and respectful debate.